Game of Cards
by MUSIC-IS-A-MUST d-.-b
Summary: All the houses have secrets that shouldn't be known and have experienced dark pasts that should be left alone. When all the Kingdoms finally come together will the evil power that threatened their lives before destroy Cards for good? Cardverse! Multiple pairings. USUK, Spamano, GerIta, Denor, many more!


**So this is the first chapter to this, it's more of an introduction to everything that has happened and more of so you can understand what's going on. I have to say though my one cat is the best because he literally had his head lying on my right wrist the whole time I was typing this.**

**Anyway a card verse story, it's not going to just focus on USUK like most do, this is going to touch on every card suit, or at least I hope it will. Please remember that the next update for this story or my parallel universe depends on YOU as a reader and what you would like to read whichever story gets the most votes will be updated first, and probably finished first.**

**Also this is my own interpretation of cardverse! **

**Disclaimer- I don't own Hetalia…sadly**

_The land of Cards is prosperous land made up of four separate kingdoms: Hearts a land known for its fantastic art, culture and love, it's a place that maintains the past but gazes greatly toward the future; Clubs a land known of hard workers, the best luck, a vast army and their determination to achieve greatness, no matter the price; Diamonds a prosperous land of trade and culture from foreign kingdoms that lay outside of cards, the kingdom is known to always maintains a carefree lifestyle when they can; and Spades an intelligent kingdom being known for their great achievements, magical abilities, and incredible strength, especially in war._

_Each kingdom is ruled by a King and a Queen that mainly over see the lands and the people ensuring their happiness. Both of them are greatly guided by their Jack who is their top advisor and the main messenger and representative for their kingdom, especially when they visit neighboring kingdoms. The last positions is the Ace, whose main duty is to correspond with the King during times of war, oversee the whole military leading them in battle, and to oversee any trials or crimes committed against the kingdom or a noble. One of the most important jobs of the Jack and Ace are to protect the King and Queen._

_A position that draws up the biggest question and is not tied to one certain kingdom is the Joker. The Joker is one person that disappears as quickly as they appear; they possess a power and knowledge from a source greater than themselves and the kingdoms. The source is the Guardians; they know everyone's destiny, future, and lives before they are born. They choose the future rulers, and have God-like powers. Even though they have amazing power, it is their nature to remain peaceful, and they hardly interact in wars or violence. However, they are extremely mysterious and they tend to distant themselves from the rest of humanity and hide. The only person who ever really sees or communicates with them is the Joker. They are rarely seen by any of the rulers and only are in times of great trouble when they are trying to save what they worked so hard to build, which was peace. _

_The Guardians originally helped form peace after The Great War hundreds of years ago that almost destroyed the whole kingdom. With their help the kingdom lived in peace and prosperity and everyone lived happily…._

_Unfortunately…..…peace can only last so long._

_A young woman with brown hair and hazel eyes dressed in a red hood ran through the streets of the hearts kingdom pushing her way through the giant crowds of other people some who like her were so desperate to escape while others were confused as to what was going on. However, unlike the rest of these people two other lives didn't hang in the balance._

_"Slow down!" she turned her head back and saw the older four year old twin boy with the curl on the side of his head yell at her. She saw the face of both him and his younger brother, who had tears streaming down his face, illuminated in the night by the many fires that had started from the riots and people in absolute panic. The two were both too young to understand why they were up so late, why they were running through the streets of their hometown in their pajamas, what was going on, and what would happen to them if she failed._

_She ignored the older twin and kept pushing her way though. They would be looking for these two boys, looking to kill them, and she'd be damned is she let that happen, because it would mean that the future of hearts would be thrown off. The woman slowed down as people started running from the direction they were heading. She turned down a side street and pushed herself even faster taking a short detour to the train station. She tightened the grip on the older twin's hand._

_They only had a few more blocks until they reached the train station. She heard the high pitched train whistle and saw the steam rise from the locomotive over the crowds of people that were milling the streets. She picked up speed and didn't even bother trying to maneuver around people anymore, bumping into them and pushing them out of her way trying to get to the train as fast as she could, getting plenty of dirty looks and unkind words. Even if she couldn't make it on...they had too. She looked back to see the younger of the two who was holding his brothers hand while apologizing to everyone she bumped into. She turned her head back and they finally made it to the ticket both entrance, but she didn't even bother. She turned around and knelt down quickly picking up both of the boys in her arms before hoisting herself over the railings. She heard a few of the guards yelling at her to stop and others. A few of the people who had watched her followed her lead, because they knew the gravity of the situation, and didn't want to die when they had the chance to escape._

_The guards started chasing her and about six other people who had jumped the rail. The train was already pulling out of the station when she reached the loading dock. She took off pushing herself to her limits, hoping that she could make sure they got on the train before it left, or before the guards grabbed them. She and the other people that had crossed the railing jumped onto the tracks. Her chest was pounding and it hurt because she was running so much. She ran as fast as she could to catch the caboose. She was so close she could almost reach it, she felt her leg give out a bit, but she didn't falter. A few of the people that were trying to catch the train jumped up and caught the railing of the caboose hoisted themselves on the tiny ledge that could barely fit the number of people that were already crowded on it. They turned and held out their hands helping the others up. They held out their hands to her. She passed them the older twin first, and they grabbed him, setting him down behind them. She handed over the younger one, the one that was in the most danger. They took him and set him next to his brother, and held out their hands for her as the train picked up speed. Her legs started giving out again and she barely caught their hands. They pulled her up and she sat down on the ledge looking behind them at the burning city they were leaving behind. She couldn't believe that they had made it. She looked at the twins that moved to stand next to her on the edge. She felt tears come to her eyes thankful that they were both safe. The older of the two looked at his younger brother who had silent tears streaming down his face. The elder didn't know what was going on. Why had they been woken up by their nurse in the middle of the night to run blindly though the streets. Why didn't their grandfather come? What had happened to him? But the main two questions that ran though his head was where were they going and if they would be safe, because obviously they weren't safe here._

_He looked at his brother who was looking toward the burning city with more tears streaming down his face then what there were before. Even though he was older and was supposed to know more, he had a feeling that his brother with his 'gift' knew far much more than he did, and that his brother knew far much more than what he was supposed to, especially with how young they were. The older twin went to reach out to his brother to comfort him when the train gave a lurch causing everyone to lose their balance. The older twin felt himself falling and hit something that seemed to fall too. He barely caught the railing that was above his head. He looked up to where his brother was standing only a second before to see him no longer there._

_The older twin was in shock for a moment looking around for his brother before realizing the thing that he hit and the thing that he hit was his brother who had fallen off the train._

_"FRATELLO!" he screamed going to dive off after him when the arms of their nurse encircled his waist, preventing him from jumping off the train, and falling to what would probably be his death…..and what was most likely his brothers._

_"FRATELLO! FELICIANO!" the older twin screamed in pain and loss as tears streamed down his face and as he struggled to escape and save something that was gone. _

_A head of a small blonde headed boy snapped up as he heard the door to the room he was hiding in open. The small boy pushed himself even further under the table he was hiding under, trying not to make any noise. He saw a shadow approach where he was hiding and fear crept up his throat, he could try and fight but he was only five and he couldn't do much damage. Suddenly boots appeared in his vision and the man dropped down right in front of him. His teary blue eyes met red._

_"Bruder," the small blonde said with relief before diving into his brothers arms._

_"What is it Lud?" the red eyed young man asked concerned because his brother was shaking in fear._

_The blonde seemed to want to answer and got lost in thought of a horrible memory. "Vatti is dead isn't he?" the boy said leaning back and looking at his brother. _

_"Why would you say that?"the albino asked confused. _

_"I saw him die." _

_The albino stared at his brother who seemed to be lost in the awful moment replaying it in his head. The albino seemed to pause before speaking thinking of what to say. _

_"That wasn't him Lud. It was a guard. Vatti is still alive. In fact I passed him on the way here, and I need to go talk to him real quick before we leave," the albino said removing his brother from his lap and standing up._

_"Leave?" the younger asked confused._

_"Yes, we need to get out of here, and get you safe. You know there are very dangerous people in this castle that won't hesitate to kill you," the red eyed boy said seeing the hidden fear on his brother's face. "I can't let that happen, so I need to get you to safety." The albino stood up and went to walk away. _

_"I'll be back really quick," the albino paused and walked back over to his brother. "Take this," he said pulling out the Dagger of Hearts from under the black cloak he was wearing and handing it to Ludwig. "If anyone besides me walks through that door," the albino said not needing to finish his sentence as the blonde gave a curt nod. "Keep yourself safe. I'll be right back," the albino said going to open the door._

"_Wait! Gilbert!" the little blonde boy said making Gilbert turn around and face him. "Promise me you'll be right back."_

"_I promise" the albino said before slipping quietly out of the room and down the moon lit hallway._

_As he made his way down the hall he passed the sight of their dead father in all his red glory. Gilbert felt slightly enraged at the coward, especially because how idiotic he was to do something like that when Ludwig could have been watching. Gilbert felt guilt for a second but he knew that he couldn't have told the young boy the truth, because if was so complicated that he didn't even fully understand it. He slipped quietly down the hallway sticking to the shadows and hiding from the intruders that happened to walk by searching for a room to ransack or someone to kill. _

_Gilbert slowed down as he approached a secret door, that looked like it was part of the wall. It was the queen's private corridors. He slipped in through the secret door. He looked around the dark room decorated in red and saw the queen's silhouette being cast by the moonlight. The only other source of light was that which bouncing off of the sword that she was holding in her hand. She was staring outside most likely at the entrance to their castle, watching and waiting knowing the fate that would come to here, because help would not make it in time. She didn't realize that Gilbert was there at first and when she did she jumped and clutched her chest taking a deep breath in and letting it out._

_"What are you still doing here?" she asked alarmed. "You should have left already, it's not safe out there not only for Ludwig but for you Gilbert."_

"_What do you mean," the albino asked generally confused. The queen took in a deep breath and let it out slowly._

"_I didn't tell you yet, but Larz was killed. He was trying to locate the Spade's royal family to move them to safety but he was ambushed. They killed him Gilbert. You're the only Joker alive right now," the queen said her grey eyes meeting his._

"_I can't be. I'm only eleven. I still haven't even learned how to use half of my powers. I can't do it," Gilbert said._

"_You have to. I know you still have a lot to learn but you'll have to live up to your role now. You are the only one left, and you can't die or else," the queen said exasperated._

"_I know," Gilbert said._

"_What are you even still doing here?" the queen said._

"_I needed to ask if he'll turn out like that and be affected by that curse," Gilbert said. The queen stared at him for the longest time._

"_Why does it matter?"_

"_He's my brother," Gilbert said getting a little irritated._

"_Not by blood." She said meeting his eyes with a harsh look. Gilbert looked down. _

"_I just….I need to know," Gilbert said, "because I need to try and prevent it any way I can."_

"_I don't know if he will be or won't be. If there is anyone with the chance of not having to suffer from that curse it would be him because of his roots," the queen said and Gilbert felt a bit of relief. "But even then, there is no guarantee."_

_The stood in silence for a little bit. "Thank you, your majesty. I need to be taking my leave," Gilbert said bowing low before straightening up and walking towards the door to open it._

"_Gilbert," the queen called and he paused. "This will most likely be one of the last times anyone will say your name. From now on, you will be known as The Joker," she said as he realized the cruelty of his position. He went to continue on when he heard her say something. "Even though you and Ludwig aren't my sons, I've felt as though you were, and I will always love the both of you," she said not even looking at Gilbert her eyes only focused on staring out the window._

_When Gilbert closed the door a terrible feeling erupted in his chest, and he took off down the hallway not caring if anyone saw him. He came to the room where he left Ludwig and saw that the door was open. He burst into the room to see three large intruders that rivaled about half of their royal guard. He saw that the biggest one was holding Ludwig by the neck strangling him._

"_Get away from him!" Gilbert yelled, and they all turned to face him. The one strangling Ludwig held him close to his chest now still strangling him. Gilbert met Ludwig's blue eyes. In a moment Ludwig pulled out the dagger and stabbed the man in his wrist which made him release Ludwig. Ludwig fell and went to run to his brother when the second biggest of the bunch grabbed Ludwig by the collar and threw him into the wall. Gilbert watched in horror as his brother hit the wall with a sickening crack, before sliding down. Some blood was streaming from his head, but Gilbert knew it wasn't enough to be fatal but they had still injured his brother._

"_Hey you're the Joker right," one of the men asked him. Gilbert kept his eyes trained on Ludwig not even looking at the people in front of him._

"_Wow we hit the jackpot. Instead of killing one, we get to kill two." Gilbert could no longer see straight, anger was overpowering him and all he could see was red._

"_No do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way boy?" the biggest one asked pulling the knife out of his wrist and throwing it on the ground. A smirk made its way to the Joker's face as he looked up and met the eyes of the men around him. In a moment a devil tail and horns appeared, and in a moment it seemed as though Gilbert's eyes glowed red like the intruder's blood._

_Blood seemed to be everywhere. There was so much of it. Such an awful coloring tainting the beautiful color of their kingdom. _

_This night had started out so nice, they all had just been celebrating his birthday. His parents had given him kisses and they had even let him drink some wine. They had just finished eating cake and were about to start on presents when a page ran into the room informing the King and Queen that their worst fears had come true. He didn't know what that meant at first, so he went on eating the last piece of cake. It was one of the best birthdays that he had ever had until then, until now. Especially now._

_His blue eyes focused on the dead bodies of his parents and family scattered on the ground. All of them slain. Right before his eyes. He had watched the whole bloody massacre through a crack in the wall. _

_His parents ordered him to hide in there. In a small, cramped, dirty, secret tunnel that would help get him out of the castle and into safety. He refused at first. He had just turned twelve after all, and he considered himself older, so he could handle what was coming, but his parents refused. And after them opening the secret path, and giving him to directions of where to run he knew that something serious was going on. He went down the tunnel for a while, before turning back to beg them to go with him because whatever this was, he was in danger, and so were they. He came back up the path and looked through the crack right when they shoved the knife through his father's chest. _

_He looked down at his father's dead face with his blue eyes still open. He could still hear his mother's cries of pain and agony as they started torturing here. He watched frozen as they did there worse to her, his older sister, his uncles, cousins, and his grandparents. He wanted nothing more but to open up the door and try to fight off the large group of men in the room, but he knew if he did that he would be slain. Because of that, because of the diamond that rested over his chest signaling his future he couldn't be reckless and try to do fix something he couldn't, and because of that he considered himself a coward. He watched as his mother held onto life with the rest of her family dead around her. The men laughed at her and kicked her, leaving her there to suffer. When they left he paused to make sure they were gone before opening the secret door and rushing to her side._

_He had tears streaming down his face as he watched her taking her last breaths of life. Her eyes were looking directly into his. Her hand reached up to caress his face and she smiled the smallest of smiles grateful to see her only son one last time. He watched as she struggled to say something until she summed up the strength for the last words to come out of her mouth. "_

"_I…I….love you….Fr-….Francis…be ….st-…strong…," she smiled reaching up caressing his hair before her eyes slowly closed and one lone tear escaped her eyes. Tears spilled from Francis's eyes as he held his mother's now lifeless hand. He looked up and saw his dead family surrounding him. He slowly got up and was looking around._

_Francis was lost in misery. He couldn't believe what had just happened. And he couldn't stand there with them because if he did then there was a possibility that the people that killed his family would come back and kill him. He remembered his mother's words and he turned to the secret tunnel. He opened the door to the pathway before climbing into it, his heart shattering as he realized that he was completely alone, and that he no longer had a family. But he embraced it because he had to go on._

_A purple eyed boy grabbed the hand of a green eyed girl as they snuck though the back gardens of the mansion. He was being careful sticking to the shadows and hiding behind statues and hedges. They couldn't be seen by one of the guards or else they would be forced to go back in the house, and from the letter that he received staying wasn't an option. They slowly made their way to the stable behind the house. Roderich let go of the girls hand and walked to the third stall on the left grabbing the biggest and fastest horse that they had, which was a big black mare named Midnight. The girl watched him confused as he started saddling the horse up and putting a few bags of supplies on it. She didn't interject until Roderich mounted the horse and held out his hand to help her up. _

_"Roderich! What are you doing? Where are we going?" she asked rather loudly. She was confused as to why he woke her up in the middle of the night and why he brought her out her to ride her family's best horse, especially since Roderich hated riding horses. _

_"You need to be quieter Elizaveta. Come on and take my hand we need to get out of here," he replied looking out of the open stable door towards the house hoping no one heard them. _

_"Why? I won't leave until you tell me what's going on," the girl said crossing her arms. Roderich sighed slouching over a bit at her stubbornness. He sometimes wished she didn't have it, but it's one of the things that would make her an excellent queen. He straightened up and proceeded to tell her. _

_"I received a message from that annoying Joker-"_

_"You mean Gilbert," she butted in. _

_"Yes...him," Roderich said even more annoyed at the mention of his name. "He said that trouble is heading our way and that we need to leave now in order to be safe." _

_"Leave...? Where would we go?" _

_"We're going to Clubs, right now it's the only place that hasn't been too badly affected," Roderich said. _

_"What did he mean by trouble?" she asked meeting his eyes. Her green eyes were wide and he could see the worry in them. _

_"He meant that if we don't get out of here by the end of the night the Kingdom of Clubs will not have a future Queen or Jack," he said. He figured it wouldn't do him any good by lying to her so he told her the full truth. He watched as emotions spread though her eyes. She held her hands to her chest and looked back to her house._

_"We can't just leave!"_

_"Why not?" he said a little harshly. _

_"What about my family?" she asked. _

_"What about them?"_

_"Will they be safe?" she asked. He didn't meet her eyes._

_"I can't just leave them. We have to warn them," she said._

_Roderich looked at her, "If we go and talk to them about the warning letter I received they will think it's a prank. They'll chastise us for going to leave and then have the guards watch us to make sure we don't try anything, and when trouble hits and they believe us and we try to leave..." Roderich looked down, "It will be too late."_

_Elizaveta looked down at the ground and then looked back at her house. She knew that he spoke the truth. She loved her family dearly but they never believed her in anything she did. They had been delighted when they saw her mark that she would be the future queen, because that meant instant status. Elizaveta had been delighted too, at first. Being able to voice opinions and concern. To be able to change things for the better._

_But being a queen to her family meant being silent, being pretty, being submissive, and having no opinion. So anything she said didn't matter, because she was a woman who was born to be inferior. She looked up at Roderich. They wouldn't believe him. He was originally a servant in their house, but they offered him board when they saw his mark. They said they respected him and that he would make a wonderful Jack...at least that's what they said in the presence of company. But in private he was ignored, shunned, and left to himself because they still only saw him as a poor, little, dirty, weak peasant that was still alive and because of the goodness of their hearts. Roderich outstretched his hand hoping that she would go with him, because she couldn't stay here and he didn't want to take her by force. She grabbed his hand hoisting herself in the saddle behind him. Roerich kicked the sides of the horse as it neighed and reared before taking off. The horse took off out of the stable, past the house and down the road toward the Kingdom of clubs. Elizaveta felt the wind whipping her hair around, she looked over her shoulder as the house that was once a small prison quickly disappeared from her vision. She turned her head back around and looked forward, because she wasn't going to look back again._

_A small boy of about six opened his purple eyes to meet with the sight of the blue sky which seemed to be moving and the warmth of the sun surrounding him. It was a moment or two before he realized that he was moving, not the sky. He looked to his left and saw the face of his brother. They looked similar, but they were very different. His slightly older brother had a little bit darker short hair with a cowlick and his eyes were blue not a violet color. The younger sat up and looked at his surroundings. He was met with the rolling green hills and wild flowers of the countryside as the small wooden hay cart they happened to be in continued on its way. The hay was golden and soft and had apparently served as their bed last night. He turned around to see an old man with a giant woven hat steering an old looking brown donkey that was steadily pulling the cart down a small dirt path. He figured the old man was a farmer that didn't even realize that he had a bit of extra cargo, and the boy felt a little bad stealing the ride from him. _

_The little boy then tried to remember how they got there but he couldn't. He remembered bits and pieces. He remembered that for some reason he and his brother were in the woods in the middle of the night. How his brother went back to their home to see if their mother said they could come back inside yet only for his brother to come tearing up the hill grabbing him and running. From there he couldn't remember anything else. He remembered hearing a language he felt that he knew but couldn't interpret; he remembered seeing fires and weapons surround him. After that everything seemed to mesh together in a small blur of white and the harder he tried to remember the more distant it all became. It was as though he was trying to remember a dream. In fact maybe the whole thing was a dream. He tried to think of his parents, but no faces came to mind. He couldn't even remember if they had parents or if that was a part of his dream as well. Did he even have a last name? _

_A yawn came from his side and he looked down to see his brother open his eyes. His brother seemed to pause trying to process their surroundings. _

_"Where are we Mattie?" his brothers asked. Matthew gave a shrug, "You're about as lost as I am."_

_His brother had a look of concentration come to his face before looking up at his brother. "What happened last night? I can't remember anything. "_

_"I don't know, Al," his brother said the two looked at each other before both trying to come up with an explanation for their current location. _

_"Do you think that woman is okay?" Alfred asked randomly. _

_"What woman?" Matthew looking at his brother confused. He waited for an answer as Alfred sat there not responding seeming lost in thought and then suddenly snapping out of it. _

_"What woman?" Matthew asked again. _

_"Huh? Oh…nothing," Alfred said as the memory of the hooded woman faded from his mind and memory._

_"Al...?" Matthew asked timidly. _

_"What?"_

_"Are we going to be okay?" his brother asked feeling scared and suddenly aware of how alone they were. Alfred had a feeling for only a moment that they were in danger before a feeling of calmness enveloped him letting him know they were safe. _

_"We're going to be better than that," Alfred said with a small smile. "I won't let anything hurt you, I swear," Alfred said with a smile of comfort towards his brother who gave a small smile back. The two sat and enjoyed the rest of the ride and the sunny day around them as the small cart of hay made slowly made its way to a small town in the country side of Clubs. _

_The nights of terror slowly spread throughout the whole Kingdom of Cards. None of the people knew what was happening, because they were uninformed of the danger that had been lurking in the shadows. An uprising had taken root from a small and evil power. It had escaped and taken possession of certain people's minds making them turn against their men and country. The dark power that it held had spread within their minds and took control. It forced many to kill their rulers, family, friends and anyone who claimed loyalty to a Kingdom. During those nights riots broke out from the sane people that demanded protection from leaders. Leaders who were being slain by those who had let the madness take over them. _

_Help finally came when a General of Spades and Clubs joined forces and helped fight the evil force. Driving it back into the prison it had escaped from. The Guardians came as well. They lifted the dark mindsets from the people so they could control their actions again. _

_However, much of this help came too late. Hundreds of thousands of people from each kingdom had been mercilessly killed. Leaving voids in many people's lives, and the government. Spades had lost their complete set of royals; Diamonds only had a Jack remaining; Hearts only had their Ace left; and Clubs had only lost their King; but the whole kingdom lost both Jokers._

_So much had been lost including some of the hope for the future. During the killing sprees the future Jack of Hearts was proclaimed dead along with the Ace of Diamonds, and the future King of Spades. _

_Even though there was so much lost and Cards would head into the future with some empty voids that didn't stop many people looked towards the heirs and future rulers for guidance, help, and hope that this terrible tragedy...these days of darkness would be left behind. That they wouldn't have to suffer from anything like this again...but things can only stay locked up for so long._

**So that was basically a prologue…it gets better trust me!**

**Don't worry it really does! Also please review! It would make me happy! So yeah…..also don't forget to vote between this story and my parallel universe story. I will update both of them, but the one that gets the most votes will get updated first, and probably get finished first. And those of you who are reading my other story, Hurt, that will get finished before either of these are updated.**


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